i need more info about the things i need for airbrushing and where can i get them on the web?

Question

What kind of special paint or fabric medium do I need do u know the name can you give me more info .
How do I find a bigger container for the paint .

Answer 1

I used to airbrush custom tee shirts at craft festivals and art fairs.

I found that it was unpractical to prepare large batches of inks because of the tendancy for acrylics to clog the brush tips. Fabric acrylics, while having the quality of allowing them to be thinned with water, are NOT water soluable, when dry. Exposure to air will start to evaporate the water at the surface, forming a "skin" of plastic-like pigment. Once this skin forms, mixing and adding water will not dissolve this gunk, and, if pieces broke loose from the skin, they would make their way up the hose, and into the brush's tiny nozzle, causing the paint to sputter and, often, clog completly up.

A real pain in the but to have to stop, disasseble the nozzle and clear up the clog. Meanwhile, the paint in the bottle continues to dry up and form a new skin.

By the way, fabric acrylics ARE the best medium to decorate clothing. It is specially formulated to soak into the fibers of the materials. When dried, it leaves a flexible coating, to minimize cracking when the fabric moves or is folded. I, also, recommended to customers that they iron the design, with the fabric sandwiched between two pieces of manilla file folder. The heat melts the plastic acrylic and bonds it, more, to the fabric. (the manilla folder prevents any ink from sticking to the iron and the ironing board)

To brush onto shirts, art & craft stores will sell a cardboard shirt "form" over which you stretch the shirt, to provide you with a flat, wrinkle free surface to work.

ALL acrylic inks should be filtered, at least, once before you begin working. You need to remove any solidified particles from your bottles, to prevent those clogs I mentioned. I sugges you purchase, about, one square yard of silk screen silk. You only need about three or four square inches to run each color through the screen, and funneled into your bottles. You need to do this EACH time you start the day's work. The extra time to do this, at the beginning more than makes up for lost time and frustration during the work session. (don't forget that, often, before it clogs, the brush will spatter and spit paint all over the place, trying to force the clog through)

Have you thought about propellant? Where do you get your air to move paint? They do sell specially made compressors for airbrush, but they are, rather, expensive. Ordinary garage compressors, or tire inflators are extremely noisy and, at low pressures, will "pulse" air through the system, causing an uneven thickness of lines. If you have a garage compressor with an attached tank, you can fill the tank and use the stored air, but you will have to keep an eye on the pressure guage. You will, really, need a regulator to maintain a constant pressure at the tip.

I spent some money on a CO2 tank, which, at the time, cost only $20 to refill, and each tank lasted a full season of weekly, weekend use for the six month craft festival season. The tank and regulator cost me about $200 but was still worth it, since I didn't need any outside electrical power to run the system, and did not make any noise beyond the hissing at the brush tip.

I knew a few other artists that utilizes an old, used tire for their propellant source. One tire would serve them for a day or so, but I worried about the, eventual drop in pressure by the end of the day. (the quality of the line or spray pattern changes with the variation of air pressure)

I do NOT recommend the cans of airbrush propellant that are sold at craft stores. They are expensive and, as the propellant is used, they tended to "frost" over, causing a severe drop in pressure as the can got colder.

Try Dick Blick for art supplies on the web. I got my CO2 tank from a business that sells and refills soda fountain supplies to restaurants and bars. The regulator came from a welding supply store. I also bought a large, portable tool box with three drawers and a deep well on top, to hold the inks, tips, hoses, extra mixing bottles, cleaning supplies, mixing sticks, highlighter markers, pencils, spray adheisive for the stencils, and all the various little parts and junk needed to work out in the field. It is the kind of tool box that sits on TOP of the big rolling tool boxes you see in garages. Mine was made of some heavy duty plastic and I got it at a hardware store.